Protesting Commercial Property Taxes (Real Estate Appraisal)
June 26, 2008 on 4:00 pm | In Real Estate Appraisal | No Comments>
Are you accustomed to seeing large numbers in the “property taxes due” column of tax statements? Property owners in Texas, a state with notoriously high property taxes, may be forced to budget a “big chunk” of their operating budgets each year for property taxes. You should always be looking for a way to increase the return on your investment, and reducing property tax expenses can have a significant impact on your bottom line.
Market Value vs. Assessed Value Many investors have asked why Texas property taxes keep increasing even though their revenue has declined and operating expenses have increased. Since appraisal districts value so many properties, they are often not aware of “softness” in a submarket. In addition, some appraisal districts have been slow to recognize the huge increases in insurance expenses. Since property taxes are such a material expense, investors have realized they need to review assessments annually. Most Texas real estate investors appeal their property tax assessment annually.
Why Property Taxes are Important Property taxes are one of the largest line item expenses incurred by property owners. When attempting to cut excess property taxes, even sophisticated property owners may not know all their rights. For instance, the current Texas Property Tax Code allows property owners to seek an equity adjustment based on comparable properties that are appropriately adjusted.
Does Unequal Appraisal Apply at Informal Hearings? The legislature also introduced a provision in 1997 attempting to allow property owners to appeal on unequal appraisal during the administrative hearing process (informal and appraisal review board hearings). Unfortunately, the wording of the statute was not clear. Some appraisal districts have chosen not to consider appeals based on unequal appraisal at the administrative hearings. It’s a shame that many appraisal districts rebuff administrative appeals based on unequal assessment. Property owners become very angry when they feel they have been taxed unfairly. Fortunately, most cases of inequitable assessment can be resolved through a judicial appeal.
Why Aren’t Properties Assessed Equally? You may be wondering why properties aren’t assessed equitably. Reasons include data errors, focusing on recent sales and inconsistencies in the informal and appraisal review board hearings due to the personal element. Since an appraisal district may track over a million real property accounts, it is unrealistic to expect all of the data to be accurate (the large number of properties also affects their ability to accurately estimate your property’s value). Overstating the quality of one property while understating the quality of another property could lead to an inequitable assessment. At times, some appraisal districts have focused on recent sales without reassessing all the properties in the surrounding area.
Once the preliminary research is completed, the owner should determine the market value of the property and whether it is in line with the total assessed value. There are three approaches that are employed in concluding market value: cost, income and market. The property’s occupancy rate, rental rate, operating expenses, net operating income and other factors, as well as sales prices of comparable properties, are valuable sources of information in determining market value. If the property owner determines that the assessed value is higher than the market value of his property, he should file a protest with the local appraisal district. This can be done either by the property owner or his designated agent. Property tax protests must be filed by May 31 in Texas; deadlines vary by state.
Preparing for Your Hearing Once a protest has been filed, a protest hearing will be scheduled. Four types of data should be compiled for the hearing: pictures of the subject property, an income analysis, comparable sales data and assessment comparables. Pictures of the subject property should indicate the quality and condition of the improvements on the property. If there is deferred maintenance, document it with pictures and bids. An income analysis should include a profit and loss statement for the previous year and a rent roll for a date near January 1 of the current tax year (most states use January 1 as the effective date for assessment.) The analysis should also detail market rent, market vacancy and market expenses (including reserve for replacement) to derive net operating income for the property (neither depreciation nor debt service should be deducted when calculating net operating income).
If your property has above-market occupancy or rental rates or below-market operating expenses, you should make adjustments when calculating net operating income. If you operate your own property, your income analysis should include an allowance for labor and management fees (if they are not in the profit and loss statement). Revenue not directly related to real estate rental (box sales, truck rentals, etc.) should be excluded. Related expenses should also be excluded. The net operating income is then capitalized to derive an indication of value for the property.
An appraisal may be appropriate to support the value conclusion. Comparable sales are given strong consideration at the hearing because they are an indication of market value. Data from sales of comparable properties for the past year or two should be collected and reviewed. Assessment comparables are given strong consideration at some appraisal districts but not considered at others. Pictures of competing properties that are assessed for less than your property can be an effective tool for cutting your property taxes. Prepare a table summarizing your property and the assessment comparables.
Attending Your Hearing(s) (Informal and Appraisal Review Board) Once all the pertinent data has been collected and analyzed, the protest hearing process begins. The initial protest hearing is called an “informal” hearing. The informal hearing involves a meeting between the owner, or his designated representative, and an appraiser from the appraisal district. If the owner is not satisfied with the offer made by the appraiser, he may proceed to the next level of the protest process, an appraisal review board hearing (in some states this is referred to as the board of equalization). The appraisal review board hearing, also referred to as the “formal” hearing, involves a meeting with members of the appraisal review board, an appraiser from the county appraisal district (who may be different from the appraiser at the informal hearing) and the owner or his designated representative. The Appraisal Review Board panel may set a value which is equal to, lower than or higher than the level proposed by the staff appraiser at the informal hearing; therefore, the offer made at the informal hearing deserves careful consideration.
The majority of protests are resolved during the informal and formal hearings. However, in a small portion of protests the property owner believes the assessed value can be cut further by filing a judicial appeal. Although few owners pursue the final opportunity to reduce their taxes, owners have the option to file a lawsuit to contest the assessed value. It is probably financially feasible to file suit if the judicial appeal will reduce the assessed value by at least $200,000 to $300,000. This rule of thumb is for Texas; it may be higher or lower in other areas. In Harris County (Texas), for example, about 500 to 800 property owners annually determine there is still enough discrepancy after completing the informal and formal hearings to further pursue an adjustment in the assessed value by filing suit. Litigation in Texas must be filed within 45 days of receiving written notification of the value set at the formal hearing. This process can result in additional reductions in the assessed value; however, it typically takes 12 to 24 months and requires services from both an attorney and an appraiser. Although relatively few owners under-stand how to pursue judicial appeals, they can be a very effective tool in lowering property taxes.
With property taxes making up such a large percentage of operating expense, a commercial property owner I know was recently pleased when his consultant informed him that the company saved over $123,000 in property taxes. Some owners will realize less savings than those, but every little bit helps your bottom line.
To view this article and more written by this author, please visit {A HREF = http://www.poconnor.com}protestingpropertytaxes
About the Author
Patrick O’Connor, MAI is president of O’Connor & Associates. The firm, in business since 1974, specializes in nationwide real estate appraisals, research, and state and federal tax reduction services. O’Connor is frequently acknowledged by national publications as a respected source of information on real estate trends.
Real Estate Calculators (Real Estate Appraisal)
June 25, 2008 on 7:01 pm | In Real Estate Appraisal | No Comments
Let’s recall now how real estate professionals used to calculate things! They used to write all the figures for calculation on a sheet of paper and then used standard calculators. The results were put back on the sheet and then realtors performed re-calculation to make sure everything was right. That way they figured out commissions, deposits, mortgages, investments and so on. Thus, the figuring process took greater part of time.
Let’s recall now how real estate professionals used to calculate things! They used to write all the figures for calculation on a sheet of paper and then used standard calculators. The results were put back on the sheet and then realtors performed re-calculation to make sure everything was right. That way they figured out commissions, deposits, mortgages, investments and so on. Thus, the figuring process took greater part of time.
Now you can save your time, as there’s software to help you calculate everything you need. Real estate calculators is the software to assist now any real estate pros, but property owners as well.
Real estate calculators are really important for realtors and other professionals related to buying and selling properties. If you are an appraiser and need to evaluate properties calculators for appraisers will help you a lot. All you need to do is adjust the software once and then use it applying the saved settings just substituting necessary figures. If you are a rental agent, Rent Calculator will be the best solution for you. This software is made for counting rental fees. Some of the software programs allow tracing history of cooperation and interlines on any property. Mortgage calculators will help you count and compare the variety of mortgage programs and loans secured on real estate.
Those dealing with real estate investment and involved either in building construction or in any other real estate deals will find Investment Calculators really helpful. The investment calculators allow counting incomes and margins.
Some of the real estate calculators can compare buying real estate versus rent, which is quite important.
If you ever used real estate calculators you’d never ended up counting the way it used to be again.
Go and get the software here:
http://www.pro-real-estate-software.com/real-estate-calculators.html
What is real estate management software?
If you own three or more real estate properties, managing them takes a lot of time. To make it easier for yourself you can either hire a person to manage your real estate or get one of the real estate management software programs.
Of course, it’s easy to hire a property manager. You pay him his salary or let him have commission off you rental income. This is not the worst choice, though quite expensive. As a matter of fact, you give this person or company the money that could be yours. How, in this case, is it possible to reduce the management expenses? The answer is – real estate management software. This will save your money and let you perform all the dos that normally took hours in few minutes.
How many properties can I manage with Real Estate Property Management Software?
Using real estate management software programs you can manage any number of properties. You can own three of them, thirty or even three hundred. With a few mouse clicks you can select a property and check its status. It’s also possible to calculate the required payments.
What options are available with real estate management software regarding payment calculation?
Calculation of payments that already took place and those to be completed on any of the properties you own. You can adjust your real estate management software program to remind you of the coming payment on a property. Moreover, some of the real estate management software programs have option of sending automatic notification to your renters about the approaching payment deadline. Another useful option of real estate management software is tracing the expiry dates of contracts and notifications about that.
Who else may use real estate management software?
Real estate management software can be used by private investors. These tools can be convenient assistants for real estate professionals as well. Application of real estate management software programs by real estate pros will give them greater advantages and bring more order in all the business processes.
Real estate management software means little investment in your efficient management.
Go and get the software here:
http://www.pro-real-estate-software.com/real-estate-management-software.html
What is real estate appraisal software?
Real estate appraisal requires precision and professionalism. Real estate pros are certain that it’s vitally important to objectively evaluate a property. Calculations with electronic tables are certainly just, but this usually consumes considerable amounts of precious time. Therefore, the best tool for real estate agents, brokers, appraisers, contractors and investors, as well as other professionals related to real estate, is real estate appraisal software.
What is real estate appraisal software capable of?
With real estate appraisal software you can easily and quickly perform any kind of calculation. Using real estate appraisal software you can create a database of properties that are to be appraised by yourself. Additionally, you can add descriptions of any properties and attach a corresponding image or a scheme of a property.
Is real estate software complicated in use?
As a rule, real estate appraisal software programs have user-friendly and handy interface that helps these powerful tools to become easy and clear in use. With real estate appraisal tools all the complicated terms and notions are simplified to make them usable not just for real estate professionals but for other people as well. You don’t need a degree for using real estate appraisal software. Tips and small video-tours showing every function in operation will make your work with the programs easy and fun.
How do I save my time with real estate appraisal software?
Owing to real estate appraisal software you can optimize your work and reduce the time you normally spend on appraising. Some of the programs support the great deal of appraisal peculiarities (like ‘neighbors’ for instance), that allows you to perform your appraisal not just of precise math, but all set logically.
Is there any real estate appraisal software for Palm OS and Pocket PC?
There’s real estate appraisal software specially made for Palm OS and Pocket PC’s allowing you to make fast and sharp calculations being right on a property you appraise. After coming back to the office, you can synchronize information on your Pocket or Palm with the database on a standard office computer. Even the toughest sides of appraisals are within the power of real estate appraisal software. Having made a sketch with the tool like that, you can paste it to any document or file, as well as save it as a separate JPEG-, GIF- or PNG-file and sand it via e-mail.
Thousands of real estate appraisers are already using real estate appraisal software! It’s high time to try!
Go get the software here:
http://www.pro-real-estate-software.com/real-estate-appraisal-software.html
Pro-Real-Estate-Software.com is aimed at providing information on real estate software programs for real estate agents, brokers, appraisers, property managers and other professionals, as well as people who are not directly involved in real estate business.
You will find information on real estate loan software, real estate management software, real estate appraisal software, real estate analysis software, as well as on real estate calculators and software for Pocket PC and Palm PC.
The information was initiated by the research our we made on the most frequently asked questions regarding real estate software. We tried to answer the question to help you take your decision when purchasing real estate software or downloading free of charge.
Go find the information you need in our Left Menu and learn what benefits you get from it.
Go and get here
http://www.pro-real-estate-software.com/
What is Loan Software all about?
Loan is a common way to purchase things – from a washing machine to real estate. Can you really make sure you’ve managed all the financial calculations right? Are you sure you are not spending your money for things you’d never need? How to check whether I calculate my mortgage rates right?
Is you are a customer, loan software will help you find the right answer to these and other important problems that have to do with loans.
What are the advantages of Loan Software?
Using loan software you can calculate your loan charges and check the precision of dues. The main purpose of loan software is to save your hundreds and thousands when someone made a mistake. Provide yourself with good rear in finances!
With the help of loan software you can do important calculations on your own and then print them on paper. Then meet your dealer and check how precise his calculations are if he’s clear with you. You can compare several loans and choose the one you can afford without spending too much. With loan software you can change deadlines to see how you can save money.
How do I use loan software if I deal with loans?
If you are offering loans and mortgages, you can use loan software to calculate monthly charges, dues and interest. Of course, you take care of your clients and you don’t want them to feel you cheat. Then you really need to use loan software. Loan software tools are relatively inexpensive. You can even find free downloads of loan software; however, most of the online resources will offer you free trials. But, look what you get! You can evaluate monthly payments, make amortization schemes, compare loans and working with accounts.
What are the extra options?
You can print the loan repayment history for any exact period. Loan software will give you an opportunity to check the final reports on gained or expected profits during the entire loan term, as well as for every consecutive year.
Professionals will have fun using loan software for Palm OS and Pocket PC. You will be able to perform any kind of calculation being at your client’s home or during the meeting at a restaurant.
Go get the software here: http://www.pro-real-estate-software.com/loan-software.html
From desktop to doorstep the Affinity Button – a new concept in armchair shoppingAndy KeyA recently launched shopping portal website, www.affinitybutton.com , is creating widespread interest in the UK offering visitors to its website a means of generating funds for a charity or good cause of their choice simply by browsing through the wide selection of products and services on offer through the website.
More than 200 charities and good causes have registered with the website since its launch in January this year, and visitors to the site are growing every day at a significant rate.
Give us a year, says Project Manager Andy Kay, and we aim to see every desktop in the UK equipped with one of our Affinity Buttons. They can be downloaded very easily, cost nothing and give our Buttonholders the chance to window shop from the comfort of home, see a range of great products on offer and raise money for their selected charity automatically whether they decide to buy anything or not. Every Buttonholder has a unique account with us, and can check exactly how much activity they have generated, and how much they have raised for their selected charity or good cause
The number of companies offering their products and services on the website is also growing very quickly. Everybody I speak to sees the tremendous potential of this website to attract business for them, says Andy, as the number of our Buttonholders grow, and very soon we expect our registered buttonholders to reach the million mark, anybody wanting to offer products and services to an on-line audience really cant afford to ignore this website. We can bring them hundreds, even thousands, of visitors after that, its up to them, and what they are offering, to attract business.
The Companys latest initiative, clicks for schools, aims to attract schools nationwide, their pupils and parents/guardians as Affinity Buttonholders, and is focussing on vendors attractive to this category of web shopper/browser. We are careful to ensure that all products and services offered through the Affinity Button website are entirely safe for all age groups to view, explains Andy. Whilst parents can set parental controls on what their children are able to view, we want to be sure that this sort of control is unnecessary so far as children visiting our website is concerned, and this policy is also re-assuring to our site vendors also.
For more information about affinitybutton.com and details of current promotions and offers available, telephone Andy Kay on 01260-299735 or e-mail andrew@affinitybutton.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Kay
Project Manager
Affinity Online Ltd
email: andrew@affinitybutton.com
Tel: +44 (0)1260 299735
Monopoly Parker (Real Estate Appraisal) Brothers’ Real Estate Trading Game
June 25, 2008 on 7:00 pm | In Real Estate Appraisal | No Comments
Monopoly Parker Brothers’ Real Estate Trading Game Customer Review: this came with my system
i bought the system at a garage sale for 10 can. and it came with 5 games this , dk country the lion king and super mario rpg and top gear i hate the auction part but i love the rest
Allegheny County offers help using vacant land – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Real Estate Appraisal)
June 24, 2008 on 9:00 pm | In Real Estate Appraisal | No CommentsAllegheny County offers help using vacant land – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A number of Pittsburgh law, real estate and appraisal firms have partnered with Allegheny County to defray some of the costs of reclaiming blighted and abandoned land parcels for redevelopment. County Chief Executive Dan Onorato announced the
IRR-Residential Adds New Affiliates and Appoints Chief Appraiser – Yahoo Finance
WESTWOOD, Kan., June 24 /PRNewswire/ — IRR-Residential, the second largest residential appraisal firm in the country, has added four new affiliates, providing additional depth to its nationwide coverage. The firm also announced the appointment of
Love the home you’re stuck with – CNN Money
(Money Magazine) — When prices were soaring, credit was flowing and selling was as easy as jamming a FOR SALE sign into your front lawn, the simplest way to upgrade your home was to sell and get the heck out of it. In other words, move to a bigger
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